Seventeen Hours
by eliana-moran
Summary: COMPLETE That was how long she had been working and after only 2 hours of sleep she was called back in. He doesn't know who she is, she recognizes him, and the success of his show rests in her hands. Ginevra's a tech and Draco's a Rock Star. see profile
1. Chapter 1

A/N i don't know if this will update regularly or not.picture perfect will continue to do so as it is finished and simply waiting to be posted so don't worry about that. to avoid confusion, the -she- is ginevra weasley. daren miles is draco malfoy.

oh, two disclaimers: 1 i don't own anything but the set up and 2 i know nothing about running sound and lights for a concert so those of you who do feel free to laugh at my stupidity

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"Seventeen hours!" The flat was empty, she was speaking to herself. "Seventeen hours! Why in Merlin's name do I do this to myself?" She rubbed her eyes with one hand as she put the yogurt cup back on the table with the other. 

She sighed and pushed away from the table. Slowly she stood and stumbled over to her bed. Ah! The blessings of living in a studio apartment, no doors or walls to run into. She ran her shin into the coffee table. Of course, there was always furniture.

Finally she collapsed onto the bed and was asleep within seconds.

She awoke to the phone ringing. She reached out, grabbed the offending electronic device off her bedside table, and answered without opening her eyes.

"Is someone dead?" Her voice was muffled by her pillow.

"No, but…"

"Then why are you calling?"

"Because I will be if you don't get down here. The show starts in two hours and half of the crew is missing."

"I just put in seventeen hours over at the club!"

"You're the only one who can make this show happen! I'm desperate!"

"You're paying me triple." She was still mumbling, but managed to sit up and began rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

"Anything." Relief was more than evident in the man's voice.

"Whatever. Is the manager there?" She stood and stumbled over to her closet, avoiding the coffee table but almost tripping on her rug.

"Yeah."

"Well, put him on!" There was a scuffling noise on the other end of the line and she took the opportunity to pull her shirt off. She hadn't even undressed before going to bed.

"Lincoln here."

"You the manager?"

"Yeah."

"Wonderful. Tell me, what can you do with the guys that did show up?" She was tugging at the legs of her jeans trying to take them off before she realized she hadn't unbuttoned them yet.

"We can set up, but the guy who knows how to work the board and the lights…"

"Isn't there, great, I got that. Describe the show to me." She had managed to get her pants off and was now trying to put a clean pair on. This was too complicated, why was it this complicated? Oh yeah! She reached for the hands free device and plugged it into the phone, putting the ear piece on.

"I'm sorry?"

"The effects, the stage set up, do you use fog? What kind of lights do use, stationary, lasers? Do you have a light show? Describe the show!" She couldn't believe this guy was a manager. She had slipped a sweater over her head before she realized the complications with the phone. For a second she tried to pull the phone up through the neck of the sweater before giving up and just shoving it in her pocket. She'd pull the cord out when she was done. When he continued to flounder she spoke again. "Put the artist on."

She pulled on her boots as she waited for the artist to be found. She paused as a strangely familiar voice came over the line.

"Yes?"

She shook her head and stood up, grabbing her keys, and went over to her cd collection. "Who am I talking to?"

"Daren Miles." He sounded annoyed. "Who am _I _talking to?"

"The girl that's about to save your career." She grabbed his latest cd off her shelf. "Describe the show to me." She left her flat and locked her door. By the time he had finished she was in her car and on her way to the venue. "Great. I'll be there in fifteen." She almost hung up before adding, "Oh, and you might want to think about getting a new manager. He can't get your tech to the venue and doesn't even know how to describe your show? Honestly." She hit her hip with her hand and her phone hung up. Why did she have to live so far away from the place? She jammed his cd into the stereo and tried to visualize what it would look like on stage.

Daren turned to the manager of the club he was playing and returned the phone. "She gave me advice!" He sounded disgusted.

Mac took the phone and chuckled. "That's what she does, mate. I'd take it."

"She's a tech!" Daren said the word as though it was obvious no one who was a tech would ever know enough to give him advise.

Mac reached over to his desk and grabbed an album. Tossing it to Daren he said, "She hasn't always been."

Daren looked down at the album in his hands. The cover had a picture of a red head leaning over a guitar, hair completely blocking her face. "Artist Unknown? Your tech was Artist Unknown?" Daren couldn't believe it. He was holding one of the most famous albums in the modern music industry in his hands. The woman had released one album that influenced the flow of music forever and then disappeared.

"Yep." Mac walked off to attend to business. Daren just stood there. His white blond hair hanging in his eyes unnoticed.

It wasn't long before a very disgruntled red head entered the club and shouted for espresso, half sugar, before locating Mac. Mac pointed her toward Daren and she stopped dead. She had noticed something about him in all of his pictures that struck a nerve with her, but in person she finally figured it out. She swallowed and made her way over to him.

"Jane West, I'll be your savior this evening." She shook his hand. "If you don't mind I'll be dealing with rather than that idiot you call a manager. I'll want you set up for a sound check in ten minutes." She moved off toward the stage without waiting for an answer.

She double checked all the wires and made her way back to the sound booth. They didn't even have the courtesy to turn their tech's laptop on for her. She grumbled as she hit the power button and began examining the settings on the board in front of her. She made a few adjustments, looked up and studied the stage for a moment, looked back down and made a few more. She then went to the laptop and began looking for the light programs. She couldn't find them. Well, this was just great. It did save her the time of linking that computer with the one that controlled the club's lights, though.

She sighed and sat back before standing and exiting the booth. Just outside she sipped her coffee and waited for the sound check. When they were ready she went back inside the booth and made sure the settings were correct before leaving and almost running toward the stage. "You! Where did your tech keep the light programs?"

Daren looked down at her like she was insane.

"Tell me he has at least three devices holding that information stored in different locations. A cd in the light cases, a usb device in the glove box, a floppy in the money bag, something, anything, just tell me you know where to find it!"

Daren looked at the band members who all shrugged and turned back to her, shrugging.

She strangled a scream and marched back to the sound booth. She was furiously typing on the computer when Daren poked his head in. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"Oh, no, of course not." She was _very_ sarcastic. "I'll just wave my magic wand and everything will be ok."

Daren blanched at her words. "It's on his computer, right?"

She spun in her chair and faced him. "If it were on his computer would I have asked you for the back up? Look," her face and tone softened just a bit, "I can improvise something but there isn't time to rehearse with it. It won't be what you're used to but it will have to do. Unless you want to do the show with nothing but spots?"

"I'm sure whatever you come up with will be fine." This was the first chance he had gotten to really look at her. For some reason she looked oddly familiar; there was something about her but he couldn't figure out what.

"Then by Merlin's beard leave me to it!" He quickly vanished but paused just outside the booth. Merlin's beard? Who used oaths like that except…

Finally she immerged from the booth and yawned. "Just gotta check the smoke machine." She was talking to herself. Daren almost smiled and followed behind her. "You know, most artists like to warm up before a show."

"I'm not most artists."

"Obviously." She bent down next to the machine and started pushing buttons. "How old is this?"

"Not a clue, why?"

"Has it been dropped recently?"

"Not a clue, why?" He was getting nervous.

"Because it's broken." She sat back on her heels. "Do you have yours with you?" She looked up at him.

"My what? That _is_ our smoke machine. Don't you have one?"

"No we do not, and I'm not talking about a machine. Do you or do you not carry a little stick of wood everywhere you go? And do you or do you not have the bloody thing with you now? Merlin, are you that dense? Who else swears by a supposedly mythological wizard?"

He stared at her, once again, in shock. Slowly he reached into his pocket and pulled out a stick of wood and handed it to her. She took it, pointed it at the machine, mumbled something, and handed it back.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" She started pushing buttons again and heaved a sigh of relief as the machine started to hum.

"Where's yours?"

She stood and looked him in the eye. "You work seventeen hours on an apple, a crème cheese bagel, a bag of Doritos, half a sub sandwich, and eighteen cups of coffee, eat a cup of yogurt for dinner and sleep two hours before being called _back_ into to work to save a show because their tech is AWOL and see if _you_ remember your wand!" She rubbed her forehead and yawned before heading back to the sound booth. "Merlin" he heard her mutter under her breath.


	2. Chapter 2

At the end of the show Jane sat back in her chair and rubbed her face with her hands. She sighed, got up, and moved over to a bench in the back of the booth to lie down. She was too tired to drive home.

Mac went in to get the laptop and anything else the other guys needed out of the booth himself, not wanting to disturb her. After he had returned it Daren sought him out. "Where's Jane?"

"Asleep in the sound booth. Disturb her and die." Mac's tone was conversational but Daren did not doubt he meant his words, the only question was whether Mac would kill him or she would. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to thank her for saving our show."

Mac raised an eyebrow and almost laughed. "Thought she rubbed you the wrong way?"

Daren rolled his eyes. "She does, doesn't change the fact that we wouldn't have had a show without her. Besides, she mentioned how little sleep and food she had gotten lately."

"Ah. Well, she'll sleep for about three hours on that bench before getting up to go home." Mac turned to go, "Oh," he turned back, "she saved your show for my benefit, not yours." He smiled as he left.

Daren cocked his head, not really sure what to make of these people. It was the strangest club he had ever been to. The tech was a witch who apparently abandoned one of the most successful music careers ever to work here, and the manager always seemed to know something you didn't and was apparently highly amused by that fact, not to mention his strange relationship with the girl; was he like a father? Did he know what she was? And that light show she had "improvised" for him was better than the one he normally had. He had to know why she stopped performing, if she really was who that guy claimed she was.

Jane woke almost three hours later, just as Mac had said, stretched, yawned, and left the sound booth. She fell back against the wall and cluched her chest when she saw Daren sitting there, waiting for her. "Merlin! This place is supposed to be empty. What are you still doing here?" Had he recognized her? Why had he just waited rather than waking her up?

Daren chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. Just wanted to thank you for saving my show."

She rolled her eyes. He was hitting on her! How pathetic. "I did it for Mac, not you." She started walking toward the exit.

"That's what he said, but it doesn't matter. I owe you. I figured since it was my tech's absence that pulled you back out here after such a long day the least I could do would be to provide a decent meal." His hands were in his pockets and his elbows were almost stiff, giving his shoulders a slightly shrugged look. He had his head down just enough that he had to look through his hair to see her. There was a cocky grin on his face.

He was insufferable! She could not believe how arrogant and self assured he was. However, food was food and she was starving. "You know, when you're right you're right? You _do_ owe me and food is what I need." She was surprised at how dangerously close to flirting her answer was, but she mentally shook herself and chalked it up to sleep deprivation.

"Excellent! Lady's choice, anywhere you want to go as long as you can get me there." He opened the door for her and put his hand on the small of her back as she passed through. She rolled her eyes; this was going to be a long... she looked at the sky... breakfast. What was it with having concerts so late? Sure, she had slept three hours but it was dawn, six o'clock, that meant the concert was over at three and hadn't started until... Too much math. She told him there was a twenty four hour place just around the corner and they could walk.

Neither of them said anything until they were seated and that was to order drinks. After that they turned to their menues. Conversation did not resume until their orders had been placed. He ordered a country fried steak breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast; and she asked for the pancake breakfast with eggs over medium, sausage, and biscuits.

"Please tell me that you saved a copy of the light programs you wrote for us. They are much better than the ones we've been using." He somehow managed to sound impressed by her work and exasperated by his tech's at the same time.

She laughed. "Of course I did. Only, I won't give it to you unless you promise to find a better tech."

He exaggerated rolling his eyes. "Without hesitation!" She laughed again. By that time the coffee was out to their table and they sipped for a few moments before he spoke again. "Is it true that you were Artist Unknown?"

She slowly set down her coffee and sighed. "Mac told you?" She leaned back against the booth and met Daren's eyes. He nodded. "Yes, it's true, but I don't really like people to know that."

"I figured, mostly by the fact that no one does, supported by your reaction just now. Why stop recording? Why would you give up such a successful career?" He was genuinely interested.

She sighed again and picked her coffee back up and took a sip before answering. "Well, to me it was never about the career, it was the art. I had something to say so I said it my way. As it turned out, my way was exactly what the world needed at that moment. The way people reacted to my music was a phenominon; if I had ever tried to experiment again it might have been accepted, but I probably would have been crucified for not 'living up to' my debut. Not that it would have mattered to me either way, I simply say that to point out that my career might not have been as successful as everyone believes." She shrugged. "It was never about the money to me, or the fame either. I could live without both and been happy. In fact, it was the fame that made me stop recording. There was no privacy anymore. Everywhere I went I was followed. Cameras were always in my face and microphones held to my mouth, it was invasive." She half-laughed. "That was a bit more than an answer I think."

Daren set his mug down and hesitated in his reply as the food was set before them. "No...no, that...that was a complete answer. So you wouldn't let scorn turn you away from your art but you're willing to let acceptance do so?"

"Hm..." she swallowed a bite of eggs. "No. I let it redirect my art. I still consider what I do art. I make performances possible. Sure, you were the one singing and playing the guitar, but I feel completely justified in sharing the credit. No one hears my songs or music anymore but they see my work. What I do adds so much to the concert experience. Without me you might as well go home and listen to the album. I exentuate what other artists say, make it more real if possible, add visual effects, etcetera." She went back to eating.

Daren was fascinated. "What else do you do?" His eyes kept flicking back and forth between her and the toast he was buttering.

"How'd you guess?" She laughed a little and took a quick bite of sausage. "I outline, sketch-out, semi-direct, and edit music videos for a label here in town." She dove back into her eggs.

He took a sip of orange juice and nodded. "You seemed so intense, not to mention that I had a hard time figuring out what you had been doing for seventeen hours."

She laughed and covered her mouth to keep from spitting out the apple juice she was choking on. "Yeah, I suppose that would be a good question, seeing as how I jumped right in and had your show up in a heartbeat." She munched on her biscuit for a second. "So, how about you, what got you in music?"

"You did." He was a little _too_ intently cutting his steak. She paused as she poured syrrup over her pancakes and looked up.

"Me?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes." She ressumed what she was doing and shook her head.

"Why?"

"I had written songs before, but I kept them all to myself, didn't figure anyone else would want to hear them. When I listened to your album, though, I realized how important my music was to me and how meaningless the rest of my life felt. I decided that if it meant that much to me I should at least try to do something with it. Something about your music made me realize that anything I was passionate about would mean something to someone else out there and if what I was saying expressed what only one other person felt but could not express than it was worth it." He had explained all of this to a piece of bacon.

She attempted to recover the pancake pieces that had fallen off her fork and smiled sweetly. "Than I'm glad I released it."

"Me too."

Jane blushed and then swallowed hard. She was NOT attracted to this man. She couldn't be! It was absurd. But then, it had been so long, and he seemed such a different person than he used to be. For that matter, so was she.


	3. Chapter 3

"You said no one _hears_ your music anymore, does that mean you still write?" Draco finally managed to look up at her again and took another bite of steak.

"Ah," she hesitated, "yeah, it does. I've thought about giving it to a performer, but I haven't found one I trust with it, or one who has a sufficient reputation as a true artist to garner the respect it requires for music to _really_ be listened to." She sighed. "Besides, if I ever find one," she looked up at Daren with odd expression on her face, "they probably won't want to perform someone else's work."

"You could always release albums but refuse to make public appearances." He suggested.

"Tried that, even the labels that respect your 'artistic freedom' still want you to show your face, give interviews, and other sales boosting activities."

Daren sat back and thought for a moment. "It is a shame, though."

"I guess," she was embarrassed again. "Look, I have a few copies of the recordings I've done myself. You can have one if you like."

His eyes lit up. "You would seriously give me a copy of your unpublished work?"

He was so incredibly different than he had been in school. He was genuine now, real. She smiled to herself. All his cockiness and arrogance seemed to be infused with a healthy dose of humor, and when it came to music he was so passionate, so pure. She could not believe she was sitting across from Draco Malfoy and actually enjoying herself, much less admiring him.

"Of course. I love your music. When you released your first album I was relieved that there were honest artists out there. To be perfectly honest, it was your work that put me at ease about disappearing." Why had she just told him that? She had decided as soon as she knew he was playing her venue not to tell him that.

It was his turn to be embarrassed. "Um, thanks."

"Look," she had already made a fool out of herself, she might as well go all the way, "if you like what you hear and you aren't opposed to performing something penned by someone else, feel free to use it, any of it." She was trying to disappear. She knew her face was bright red and she had tried desperately not to appear to hopeful, but she knew she had sounded like she was begging.

Daren, however, hardly noticed her discomfort. He was in shock. Artist Unknown had just given him rights to perform her music. "I…I don't know what to say. I'm sure I'll like it, but are you sure you want me to perform it?"

"There really isn't anyone else on the scene that I would trust with it."

He just nodded.

The finished their meals in silence, both unable to believe what had happened. When they finished they returned to the club and she led him back to the sound booth. She located two cds and handed them to Daren.

"Look, you have no idea what this means to me," he indicated the discs in his hand, "Any of your work I use will be credited to Artist Unknown."

She just nodded. Something really strange had happened to them over breakfast. As they had talked about their music a connection had been made that neither had even noticed until toward the end, and now that it was getting close to goodbye it was making itself known in a very awkward moment.

He swallowed. "We have to leave in a few hours if we're going to make our next booking. I'll call you to let you know what I think of these," again he indicated the discs, "if you'd like."

"Um, that would be nice. Here," she scribbled her number on a post-it note and handed it to him. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Thanks for saving my show, and for these, and for breakfast." He was examining his shoes.

"Look…"

"Hey…" they both started at the same time. She waved her hand in his direction, telling him to speak first.

"I don't suppose there's any way you'd leave this place to be my tech, would there?"

She swallowed hard. She forgot what she had been about to say and sat down. She brought her hand to her eyes and for some unknown reason felt like crying. She looked back up at him. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

He was even more flustered than ever. "I'm sorry..."

"You aren't Draco Malfoy anymore; I can see that. You live as a muggle now, so obviously certain things about you have changed. I love your music; I love your performance; I even love your attitude. I want desperately to say yes and go on the road with you, to get to know you, to work with you, but do you really want me along? Do you really want to be stuck on a bus with me? Do you really want to work with me?" No matter how much he had changed, she couldn't bring herself to believe it. Yes, he was Daren Miles now, not Draco Malfoy. Yes, he lived with muggles as a muggle, so obviously his beliefs had changed. But could he ever really want to have anything to do with a Weasley, whatever their names had become?

"Why wouldn't I?" He saw something in her eyes, some pain, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. She knew who he was, but he still couldn't place her, what had he done to her in his old life?

"I'm a Weasley."

"Ginevra?" Well, everything made sense now, from her attitude before the concert to her reluctance to accept breakfast to this.

She nodded weakly.

"Did you mean it when you said you would come, even knowing who I once was?" He really wasn't the spoiled, arrogant, prejudiced boy Lucious had raised; he had grown up and become someone else entirely.

Again, she nodded weakly.

"Then believe me when I say that who you once were only increases my desire to work with you. Everytime I remember my school years I remember you. I remember how meek you were and how fiery you became. I remember things you said and things you did. I regret the way I treated you and your family and I wish that there was some way I could take it back. I wish there was some way I could get to know the girl I belatedly learned to respect. Please, I admire Artist Unknown, I respect Ginevra Weasley, and I need Jane West, please give me the opportunity to prove I'm Daren Miles."

She nodded for the third time and he smiled, full and beautiful.

"What do you need to do? I can give you our tour schedule and you can meet up with us as soon as possible..."

She shook her head this time. "I can summon everything I need from home and conjur anything else, that is, if you let me borrow your wand for a second. Everything else I can take care of with a letter to Mac. I can go with you today." He started laughing.

"You write that letter, I'll go inform the rest of the gang." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He paused halfway up as he was standing when he realized what he had done and looked into her shocked eyes. He gave a crooked grin before shrugging, standing the rest of the way, and leaving.

She reached for a piece of paper and a pen and wrote her letter.


	4. Chapter 4

Three hours later Mac arrived at work and was slightly confused when he saw Jane's car in the parking lot. He called her name when he entered the building and made his way to the sound booth. There, taped to the door, was a letter.

Mac,

You told me once that it broke your heart to see me tied to a city. You said a heart like mine needed to be free. You warned me that you were praying for the day that I found someone worthy of my music that would be unwilling to perform it unless I was backstage. I don't know how many times you muttered under your breath that I should be on the road, either working with one group or only doing high profile special gigs.

Well, I'm gone. I left with Daren's band this morning. I'm going to do sound for him. He's also going to look at my music and we're going to work together on making it ours.

I'm home, Mac, in more than one way. Daren's an old schoolmate of mine; we used to hate each other; we were raised to hate each other. Our world was torn apart and rebuilt, and I guess so were we. Thanks Mac, for everything you've done for me over the years, but I need to ask you one last favour. If you'd take care of my business for me, let everyone know I'm gone, close up the apartment, do something with my car, I'll be eternally grateful. Well, I am already, but I'm not sure what else I can say.

I love you Mac,

Jane West

Artist Unknown

Ginevra Weasley

Mac finished reading the note and smiled. Not only was the closest thing he had to a daughter finally doing something worthy of her life, but he had a new car...


End file.
